Chinese Money-Suited Playing Cards

Introduction.

This Gallery features Chinese cards of the three money-suit variety that the draw and discard game of ma qiao/ma que/Mahjong(g) was most probably derived.

This three suit variety was developed from a four money-suitdeck – also included in this Gallery – that was used for playing tricking taking games such as ma diao (see Gallery pictures Four Suits-1a, 1b) and luk fu (see Gallery picture Four Suits-2).

This development was done by dropping the highest suit, the tens of myriads of guan, (in Chinese ‘shi wan guan‘ = shi 十 (‘ten’) + wan 萬 (‘myriad’ = 10,000) + guan 貫(1 guan = 1000 cash)), to leave just three suits, each with 9 cards plus three extra cards that serve as Jokers. By quadruplication of each card to 120 cards, and even increased 150 cards with more Jokers cards possibly added, draw and discard, meld-forming games such as ma que/Mahjong were made possible.

For further details, please read the article ‘From Cards to Tiles‘ in the section Tile Set History and particularly the References.

The Names of the Suits.

When looking at the decks in this gallery, you will see that the remaining three suits are; (starting from the bottom and lowest value and showing traditional/simplified sinogram forms where relevant)

Cash, – 1 – 9; either ‘tong‘, 銅/同, (copper as in copper cash) or ‘bing‘, 餅/并, (cake as in cake of silver) or ‘tong‘ 筒 (bamboo tube). These are represented on each card by realistic or abstracted coins or circles (sometimes with a square hole in the middle).

Strings (of Cash) – 1 – 9; either ‘suo‘ 索 (strings of cash) or tiao 條/条 (strings) represented by realistic or abstracted bundles of strings of coins or strings of groups of fish or just plain coiled bundles of string.

In some examples, there is a fourth suit, shi wan guan 十萬貫, tens of myriads of 1000 strings of cash – also known as ‘tens‘ (also with images of human figures or portraits – see the example deck of ma diao).

Pictured at the end of each suit are three (quadruplicated) extra cards, often – but not always – associated with one of the suits. They usually, but not always, have red marks or stamps on them. Starting from the bottom we have, above the human portrait on each card, the names of; (they may or may not be featured)

hong hua ‘red flower’, 红 花, sometimes showing a man – wang ying 王英 – with small black boots. Originally it may have been the ‘zero cash’ card showing a Persian presenting a treasure with the heading ‘Void of one cash’ and this original card may have been converted to act as a ‘flower’ card and become ‘red flower’ for the Cash suit. One school of thought says that the ‘red’ refers to the red stamp found on this card (See Four Suits 1a and 1b. See also Three Suits 3).

bai hua ‘white flower’ 白花. This may have originally been the ‘half cash’ card and then converted to act as the ‘flower’ card for the Strings suit. The reference to ‘white’ may be because it is devoid of a red stamp (See Four Suits 1a and 1 b and Three Suits-4).

lao qian 老千, ‘old thousand’. This was originally the thousand myriad guan card from the now discarded fourth suit. The figure of Wu Song the Itinerant Monk was portrayed on this card (See Three Suits-3).

The Different Styles of Cards.

Gernot Prunner (1969) argued for three styles of Chinese money-suited playing cards from the 19th and 20th centuries. The criteria for these styles appeared in his 1969 East Asian Playing Cards exhibition catalogue (see Literature gallery 3.0, picture 1969-1). A fourth style is also added at the bottom. These styles are;

The ‘Naturalistic Style‘. Both four and three-suited decks. This style displays realism in the representation of the human figures with faces displaying recognisable individual features. The stacks of strings of coins and groups of single coins are also easily recognisable. Occasionally, objects such as fish or bats appear and these too are portrayed realistically. Bold edge patterns representing the cards identity are the the top and bottom of each card. Gallery examples are the complete four-suited deck of the ma diao(Four Suits 1a & 1b) (minus the bold edge markings) and the complete and partial decks Three Suits 1 – 20.

The ‘Linear Style’. Both four and three-suited decks. This style displays partial abstraction (or partial realism) in the representation of the human figures and the strings of cash and cash coins show marked geometrical designs of their forms. Thus the human faces are becoming mask-like and the strings are in the form of columns. The coins are also more geometrical in shape and the lower values heavily abstracted. Some examples will show loss of the value patterns at the top and bottom of the cards and the graphics are very linear and thin-lined. Gallery examples are the Three Suits 21- 30.

The ‘Geometrical style’. This style features the “complete decomposition” of the human figures, the strings of cash and the cash coins into heavily abstracted geometrical motifs. The graphical lines are very thick and linear with small value patterns. Gallery examples are Three Suits 31 – 33.

The ‘Sinogram style’. This last type is a four suited deck that has a style that does not possess any of the myriads of cash, strings of cash and cash pictorial representations. On each card these have been replaced by a large sinogram naming the suit plus the number or value of each card. The Gallery example is Four suits-2.

There are examples of partial and complete decks of cards in this Gallery. The partial decks serve to illustrate the different styles in which the suit patterns were printed from the carved wood blocks. Complete decks also show the differing styles in which the suit patterns were engraved and printed plus the differing colour schemes involved and the possible presence of further extra cards.

Four Suits-1a.

Ma Diao Pai. China. 38 of 38 cards. ~ 1887. Sent from China to Stewart Culin by J. P. Cowles in 1887. It eventually resided in the Brooklyn Museum but its whereabouts is now unknown. This picture was constructed from a photo in the 'Ostasiatische Spielkarten' (East Asia Playing Cards) Exhibition Catalogue by Gernot Prunner 1989 (after Asia, Vol. XXXI, Nr.3).
The ranking and value of each card in a suit is usually from left to right, so the card of the lowest rank and value is on the left and the highest on the right (the cards with a red stamp). The ranking of each suit is from bottom to top - the lowest suit is at the bottom and the highest at the top.
However, in this deck the bottom 'Cash' suit is reversed such that the lowest ranked card is valued the highest and the highest ranked card ('Nine Cash') is valued the lowest. The highest value card is called 'Zero Cash' and shows a person presenting a treasure and sports a red stamp. The card next to this highest value card is the 'Half Cash' card, and at the top has the sinograms bàn zhī huā, 半 枝 花 = half, sprig, flowers. In this case the card is called 'Half Cash' and is sometimes called a 'Spray of Flowers'. The values then proceed from 'One Cash' down to 'Nine Cash'.
The number of cards in this deck (38 cards) resembles the number of cards in the deck described by the early Ming Scholar Lu Rong (1436-1494). However Lu Rong's deck did not have the 'Zero Cash' and 'Half Cash' cards found in this deck.
Those two cards are found in the deck described by the Late Ming scholar Pan Zhiheng(1556-1622).
If this deck is a Pan Zhiheng type deck, then the top two cards - Ten Thousand Myriad Guan and Thousand Myriad Guan - are missing or perhaps the top two cards were already discarded.
Pan's deck had the 'Cash' suit reversed and it contained the 'Zero Cash' and 'Half Cash' cards. This reversed arrangement is shown here and in the next photo and is also a feature of the Three Suits-18 'Dong Guan Pai' deck shown below.

Four Suits-1b.

The same deck as the previous one but with the cards shown in a different arrangement. The top card for each suit is still shown on the end of each suit on the right and has a red stamp.
More importantly, as in the previous photo, the Cash suit is reversed in order of strength.

Four Suits-2.

Local name; hakka ti pai. China ~ 2000? Complete deck of 38 cards. The top suit is Tens of Myriads of Cash. The next is Myriads of Cash, then Strings of Cash and finally, Cash.
The three extra cards down the side serve as Jokers. In older packs there would be five or more extra Jokers. See also.,
http://www.pagat.com/multitrk/liukfu.html#cards
Printed black on white card with black backs.

Three Suits-0.

Local name; lao qian pai. China ~ 1905. 30 of 120 cards. A very well preserved deck of cards, showing the three suits bearing naturalistic coins for the 'Cash' suit and strings of coins for the 'Strings of Cash' suit. The sinogram for wan(guan) is on each of the 'Myriads' suit as well as naturalistic figures from the Shui Hu Zhuan = shui 'water', hu 'riverbank', zhuan 'story' = the Water Margin.

Three Suits-1.

Local name; lao-qian-pai (Ancient Cards). China, ~ 1900. Partial deck, 30 of 98 of 120 cards. An old deck displaying the three suits, with realistic coins, strings of coins and portraits of characters from the 'Water Margin'.

Three Suits-2.

Local name; fo-pai (Buddha Cards)-1. China, ~ 1905. Partial deck, 115 of 120 cards. Very similar to the Three Suits-0 deck above, except for some of the human portraits facing in the opposite direction and the backing pattern of the cards. Realistic portrayal of the cash coins and string of cash.

Three Suits-3

Local name; yu-pai. China, ~ 1905. Partial deck, 16 of 27 of 120 cards. The top row is the wan suit and the card number and suit name appear above the human portraits. These are most likely figures from the shui hu zhuan (Water Margin). At the end is an extra card with three, painted red stripes. This card is called 老千, lao qian = old thousand, and was the Thousand Myriad Guan card from the old discarded fourth suit - the Tens of Myriads of Guan. It was used to head up the Myriads suit.The name Lao Qian appears at the top of the card. At the bottom, with two red stripes is hong hua, 红 花, Red flower, and has the figure of wang ying, 王英, a character from the Water Margin story. These names appear, respectively, at the top and bottom of the card.

Three Suits-4.

Local name; tian-pin-pai. China, ~ 1905. Partial deck, 19 of 20 of 120 cards. As in the preceding example, the wan suit cards have names above each portrait. The cards most likely feature the names of characters from the Water margin below each portrait. Note the simplified form of wan in the upper row as compared to the traditional form in the preceding image. Note also the use of and style of the fish on the number one Strings(of Cash) and the use of the swastika as the backing pattern on the cards. The swastika was used to denote 'infinity'. As usual, at the top on the right with three red stripes is Lao Qian, Old Thousand. Beneath that is bai hua, 白花, White Flower, with two red stripes.

Three Suits-5.

Local name; tian-xia-pai (a land under heaven = China = Chinese Cards) - 1. China, ~ 1910. Partial deck, 20 of 56 of 120 cards. Similar to the deck 'Three Suits-0' in this gallery, except for the different backing pattern on the cards and the lack of names below the suit images.

Three Suits-6.

Local name; tian-xia-pai (Chinese Cards)-2. China, ~ 1910. Partial deck, 13 of 27 of 120 cards. Similar backing pattern to the previous cards. However note the highly realistic form of a fish on the number one String of Cash. This style is similar to one engraved on a number one SoC/'Bamboo' tile that belonged to a set in the late Japanese MJ Museum collection and was featured in their Bulletin.

Three Suits-7.

Local name; fo-pai (Buddha Cards) -2. China, ~ 1905. Partial deck, 18 of 46 of 120 cards. Very realistic figure of a fish on the number one Strings (of Cash) card. Similar backing pattern to the deck 'Three Suits-3'. Note the painted stripes patterns on the three extra cards.

Three Suits-8.

Local name; wen-ming-pai (Civilized cards). China, 1941. 30 of 120 cards with the name of each suit written on each card. Thus, from the bottom we have; bing 'cakes' (of silver), tiao (strings) and wan (myriads). The three extra cards associated with each suit are, from the bottom; hong hua 'red flower', bai hua 'white flower' and lao qian 'old thousand' (this card was kept from the fourth suit of a four suited money deck that was discarded to form the three-suited type of deck). These cards show exceptional print work with some slight overlap of colour. Possibly machine printed. They depict scenes from perhaps the second Sino Japanese war 1935-1945. Note the similarity between these depictions and those on 16 Flowers/Seasons synthetic sets in the 'Synthetic' tile set gallery.

Three Suits-9.

Local name; tai-zeng-pai (Venerable Cards). China, ~ 1930. Partial deck, 30 of 65 of 120 cards. According to the late Japanese Mahjong Museum (JMJM) these cards were used in Beijing, North China. The names of characters from the novel Shui Hu Zhuan = shui 'water', hu 'riverbank', zhuan 'story', are written on all the cards. Using the North China names, the three suits are(from the bottom suit); bing 'cake' (of silver) with the extra card hong hua 'red flower', tiao (a unit to count fish) with the extra card bai hua 'white flower' and wan 'myriad = ten thousand' with lao qian 'old thousand' as the extra card. This is a remnant from the fourth 'ten myriads' suit. For a discussion of these suit terms see the Introduction to this section and the article "From Cards to Tiles" in the Tile Set History section. The middle suit, 'bing', displays fish on each card. As can be seen from other decks in this gallery, this is one of two symbols that were used in early money-suited decks. However, other symbols were/are used in more modern times. The coloured figures are portraits of characters from the Water Margin story.

Three Suits-10.

shui-hu-pai (Water Margin Cards/108 Heroes in Liangshan Mountain cards). China, ~ 1960. 30 of 120 cards. This is the 1st example of this type of deck. Widely distributed in N. E. Provinces of North China and along the coast of the Long River.
Also there are many manufacturers spread over wide areas. This last observation is supported by some of the decks in this gallery (10 - 13) that are very similar to this deck but differ in colouring and some subtle differences in figure work (#13) plus different back colouring. Further, the the late JMJM reported that the number one SoC card is called 'Big Fish Card' or 'Small Fish Card' and there are two patterns on the SoC, either fish or realistic strings of coins. However, different symbols have now recently been used on these cards.

Three Suits-11.

Local name; shui-hu-pai (Water Margin Cards). China, Dalian, ~ 1975. 30 of 120 cards. As above, according to the JMJM these cards are "widely distributed in North Eastern 3 provinces, North China and along the coast of the Long River.

Three Suits-12.

Local name; shui-hu-pai (Water Margin Cards). China, Dalian, ~ 1975. 30 of 120 cards. Again, according to the JMJM these cards are widely distributed in North Eastern 3 provinces, North China and along the coast of the Long River. This is part of a group of similar three-suited cards (cf, 10 -13)

Three Suits-13.

Three Suits-14.

Local name; majiang pai/liang shan pai (Mah Jong Cards/Liang Shan (mountain) cards, another name for shui hu pai or Water Margin cards). China, ~ 1990? 34 of 136 cards. These cards are found in North East China, mainly in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia. When using these cards for a game such as zuihu then the 120 three-suit money cards (including the quadruplicated three extra cards - Red Flower, White Flower and Old Thousand) are used by removing the Winds and the Flowers (if present). Zuihu is a game played by four people, but only three hold cards in each game and the fourth one is resting. When used for playing ma qiao/Mahjong, the Red Flower equals the Red 'Dragon', the Old Thousand equals the Green 'Dragon' and White Flower equals the White Dragon.

Three Suits-15.

Local name; Lao qian pai/Ancient Cards. China. Date unknown. 30 of 120 laminated cards. Complete deck. On the wan/Myriads suit cards are figures from the 'Water margin' novel. The tiao/Strings suit features a big fish on the # 1 with the rest of the suit as well as the bing/Coins suit displaying the iconography usually found on majiang/mahjong cards. Note the simal;rite of the iconography on the suits with those in 'Three-Suits 30.
If the deck was used for majiang/Mahjong, then the three extra cards found at the end of each suit may have been used as the 'Dragons' group. This would give the deck the structure of a majiang.Mahjong deck as found in the "Three-Suits-29" deck.

Three Suits-16a.

Local name; Suifu yule pai/ma-jiang-pai. China ~ 1990? 34 of 136 cards. In contrast to the previous deck, the depictions on these cards lean more towards the ma jiang/Mahjong iconography.

Three Suits-16b.

Cardboard box showing some of the imagery found on the Directions cards.

Three Suits-17a.

Golconda Mah-Jongg playing cards. Germany. ~ 1925? Complete deck. 42 of 144 cards. The Golconda logo together with the letters D.R.G.M are on the back of each card. D.R.G.M = Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster or German State Registered Design.
Superb printing on each card.
The human figures are from the novel sanguozhi yanyi (Romance of the three Kingdoms) by Luo Guanzhong. According to Prunner, each suit of figures represent one of the three parties in this novel;
the Myriad suit corresponds to Cao Cao and his followers - the party of the State of Wei.
the Bamboo suit corresponds to Sun Quan and his followers - the party of the State of Wu.
the Circle suit corresponds to Liu Bai and his followers - the party of the State of Shu.

Three Suits-17b.

The Myriad or ‘Character’ suit corresponds to Cáo Cāo and his followers of the Kingdom of Wèi.

1) Cáo Cāo. 曹操. Cáo Cāo created the foundation for what would become eventually the Jin Dynasty.

2) Guō Jiā. 郭嘉. Guō Jiā was a trusted adviser during the years the Wei Kingdom was formed.

3) Xià Hóu Yuān. 夏侯淵. Xià Hóu Yuān was Xià hóu Dūn’s brother (see the following character). He was famous for making attacks against barbarians from the west.

8) Wèi Yán. 魏延. A commander who surrendered to Líu Bèi
and became a follower.

9) Mǎ Dài. 馬岱. Mǎ Dài is the cousin of Mǎ Chāo. They both surrendered to Líu Bèi.

Three Suits 17e.

The Four Directions or Winds, refer to four women from the Three Kingdoms period.

E) Ér Qiáo. 二喬. The Two Qiáos (of Jiangdon). The two Qiáos were two sisters. However, due to the lack of mention in records, they are now referred to individually as大喬Dà Qiáo ("older Qiáo") and小喬Xiǎo Qiáo ("younger Qiáo"). Dà Qiáo married the warlord Sùn Cē and Xiǎo Qiáo was married to the General Zhōu Yū, a follower of Sūn Quán of the Kingdom of Wú.

S) Sūn Fūrén, 孫夫人. Lady Sun. She was the daughter of Sùn Cē (who was the older brother of Sūn Quán). She was also the wife of Lù Xùn a General and politician under Sūn Quán of the Kingdom of Wú. The marriage joined the Lù and Sūn families together.

W) Cài Wén Jī. 蔡文姬, (also known as Cài Yǎn). Cài Yǎn was a poet and musician. She was captured by nomads and married their chieftan and had two sons. After a paid ransom by Cáo Cāo on behalf of her father she later remarried. She was affiliated with the Kingdom of Wèi.

N) Diāo Chán. 貂嬋. A fictional character in the novel.

The ‘Dragons’ are all Líu Bèi's military strategists:

Bái) Xú Shù, 徐庶. He was an official of the state of Wèi then became an advisor to Líu Bèi of the state of Shǔ. He subsequently returned to Weéi and became an advisor to Cáo Cāo. He was thus affiliated with both the Kingdom of Wèi and the Kingdom of Shǔ.

Zhõng) Zhūgé Liàng, 諸葛亮. He was a military strategist and Chancellor of the Kingdom of shǔ.

Special thanks to James Peirce of the kongming.net web site for his advice and suggestions regarding the information in this article. With reference to the identification of The Five Kingdoms novel found in engravings on ‘Flowers’ tiles in Mahjong tile sets, this web site is highly recommended.

Three Suits-17f.

Leather box containing plastic counters, dice and paper Golconda instructions in both German and English.
'Golconda No. 3' and 'Mah-Jongg' printed on the inside of the lid.

Three Suits-17g.

Leather box.

Three Suits-18.

Local name; lao shui hu majiang pai (Old Water Margin/Mahjong cards). China ~ 1950. Partial deck, one card missing. 34 of 135 of 136 cards. Figures from the Shui hu zhuan (the novel the Water Margin) feature on all the cards of the three suits. Four Direction Winds and three Honours are also present. The three suits are; 餅 (in its traditional form) bing, 'Cake' as in metal cake or silver cast into the shape of a cake; 條 (trad.) tiao, Strings (of cash) and 萬(trad.) wan, Myriads (of strings of cash). The names of the three suits are therefore in their traditional forms.
On an aesthetic level, these cards feature very fine realistic human figures with superb colouring.

Three-Suits-19a.

Local name; Changchun majiang pai/Changchun Mahjong cards. China, ~ 1960. 30 of 120 pasteboard cards. A complete deck. Manufactured in Changchun, Jilin province in north east China.
An unusual and picturesque deck with the wan/myriads suit displaying figures from the "Water Margin" novel; the 'Bamboo' suit showing different species of birds, and the 'Circles' suit showing different species of flowers.

Three-Suits-19b.

Side of box showing the contents - the three suits and the three Dragons only.

Three-Suits-19c.

Side of box showing the place of manufacture.

Three-Suits-19d.

View of the box illustrating the squat nature of the deck.

Three-Suits-20a.

Local name; Jinlu majiang pai/Jinlu Mahjong Cards. China, ~ 1970. 42 of 144 cards. Complete deck of cardboard cards. This deck is probably a rare product of the Quanzhou Paper Factory in Fujian Province that began publishing a few card decks under the Jinlu name around 1970, when the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 1976) prohibition of playing card games was most likely weakening. (source. Tao Liu. Vice Chairman and Secretary-general of the Council of the Chinese Association of Collectors of Playing Cards).
The 'Character' suit shows a Dragon among wish-granting clouds and chasing a wish-granting pearl. The 'Bamboo' suit shows a wish-granting wand. On the wand head are the symbols for yin and yang. On the 'Circle' suit cards is a Phoenix.

Three-Suits-20b.

Three-Suits-20c.

Three Suits-21.

Three Suits-22.

Three Suits-23.

Local name; 東莞 牌 Dōng guǎn pái from the prefecture-level city of Dongguan in Guangdong province in Southern China. 31 of 120 cards. The three money derived suits are evident, bearing abstracted representations. An additional card is present, showing a human figure in colour. All cards are very narrow and have red backs. The layout of these cards follows from an analysis - by the late playing card student John Berry - that appeared in The Playing-card Vol. 31, No. 5. (see Important Links at the bottom of the Home page). Close inspection will show that the underlying structure of each suit of 1 up to 9 is absent from the 'Cash' suit. This is because this suit has been reversed, such that the lowest value card is the number 9. Thus, from left to right, we have 9 through to 1 plus two cards called 'half cash' and 'zero cash'. Hence 11 cards. This arrangement shows that the three cards that have red stamps now rank as the top cards of each suit. This ranking explains the combinations required in the game of Kan Hu. One of the combinations for a winning hand is a group of three cards of the same rank - the cards bearing a red stamp. Other three-card combinations are also explained by this suit ranking. This arrangement of the suits also follows that described in Pan Zhiheng's 1613 account of a four suited and three suited reduced money deck, as translated by Doctor Andrew Lo in The Playing-card Vol. 31 No 2 and Vol 31 No 5.

Three Suits-24.

Local name; Si-hua-pai (Ten Flowers Cards). China, ~ 1970. 40 of 130 cards. According to the late JMJM, these cards are used in Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. These cards show a more stylised representation of the three suits bing, tiao and wan. The three extra cards at the end of each suit are, from the bottom; lao gai (with the name wang yin), Bai Ya? and qien wan. The ten extra cards depict characters from the Chinese opera "Bai She Zhuan".

Three Suits-25.

Local name; Tianjin chuantong pai (Tianjin Traditional Cards). China, ~ 1970 or earlier. 40 of 130 cards. These are a form of "Ten Flowers Cards" (see previous deck) and as the name suggests, were used in Tianjin.
As before, these cards show a more stylised representation of the three suits bing, tiao and wan - Cash, Strings and Myriads, respectively. The three extra cards at the end of each suit are, from the bottom; lao gai (with the name wang ying), Bai Ya? and qien wan (also known as 'Old Thousand'). The ten extra cards depict characters from the Chinese opera "Bai She Zhuan".

Three Suits-26.

Local name unknown. Date unknown. This deck (incomplete) might be another form of si hua pai (ten Flowers Cards - see the preceding deck).

Three Suits-27.

Local name unknown. Date unknown. Incomplete deck. Another possible example of si hua pai (see Three suits -20 for a complete deck).

Three Suits-28.

Local name; na tong pai. ~ 2005. China. 30 0f 120 cards.

Three Suits-29.

Local name; hu-pai. China, ~ 2000. 93 156 cards. Note how the cards are doubled, plus there are six extra cards, four of which bear sinograms identical to those found in four extra tiles of the Himly set (see MJ, Before and After MJ part 1). These have the sinograms, wan 'myriads', suo 'string (of 100 coins)', qian 'cash', and hence might serve as 'Jokers' for their respective suits. The fourth card is marked zong, 'almighty' - perhaps an all-purpose card akin to an all purpose 'Joker' for the three suits. The fifth card is marked 'yao', the one dot on a dice. Perhaps this is the Joker for the aces or number ones of each suit. The sixth card is marked at the top 'wang pai' - king card - and is probably a card that trumps all other cards. (See the article 'Flowers and Kings" in the Tile Set History section). This deck is found in Zhejiang province.

Three Suits-30.

shi-hu-pai (Ten Points Cards). Again, the three suits are well delineated. Note however, the Strings of Cash suit appear to show coils of strings. The simplified form of wan is used on the top suit cards.

Three Suits-31.

Three Suits-32.

Local name; zhi-qi-pai. Singapore, ~ 2005? 30 of 120 cards. The three suits are highly abstracted. These are popular among the overseas Chinese in South East Asia. This type of set is used in Singapore.

Three Suits-33.

Local name; zhi-qi-pai. Plain paper wrapper with a green print of a bird of prey and the logo "Handelsvereeniging Harmsen, Verwey & Dunlop N. V.. Java . Sumatra . Celebes". 60 of 60 cards. Two packs makes a quadruplicated deck of 120 cards. Manufactured in Belgium for the S. E. Asian market. 1930. The three suits are highly abstracted on these short, squat cards. According to Prunner, these are popular among the overseas Chinese in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

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